


Devils and Kings

by viernes



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Multi, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-14
Updated: 2015-04-14
Packaged: 2017-12-29 10:08:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1004130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viernes/pseuds/viernes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on ASOIAF by GRM, especially the first three books. I'm writing about all the characters, specially Sandor. (Beware of SPOILERS).</p><p>The War of the Five Kings is in full progress and Westeros is more divided than ever. With the rumors of the last Targaryen coming back to reclaim her throne and the Others marching towards the Wall no one could imagine their worst fear would come from within the forests.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

 

 

_Those who sing the song of the earth will come back to claim what was taken from them so many deaths ago; and no king, queen and flames combined will be able to stop them._

* * *

  
 

He couldn't recall how he got on the other side of the wall, he remembered running after his dog after he had been trying to cut his fur to use it to cover some of the holes in his boots in a desperate attempt to keep the cold away from his feet which were already turning black. Landon had taken his father's blade out when the sight of it scared the _damn_ dog and sent him running off, leaving him no choice but to go running behind.

He followed the dog into a dark, damp tunnel and lost track of him there until after what seemed like several hours of walking through passages he spotted a light at the end of one of them. As soon as he stepped outside he caught the sight of his dog being devoured by a pack of wolves. They must have caught the scent of him cause they stopped eating and turned to gaze him with their deep blue eyes. The wolves had small wounds in their hind legs, _bites_ , he thought. _How hungry can an animal get before he starts biting his own leg?_ Landon knew he would soon find out. Winter had been hard but at least he had some food left in his storage. No, food wasn't the problem, cold, war and that Targaryen king were. Three seconds passed before the wolves started racing towards him. It took all the strength in his legs to keep the distance between him and the pack.

He was mentally weighting his chances of survival if he climbed a tree when from the corner of his eye he spotted a house. It seemed abandoned but still he screamed for whoever was inside, if anyone at all, to open the door as he ran towards it. Behind him the pack seemed to have stopped all of a sudden, _they must have caught the scent of some other poor soul,_ he thought as he ran.

He got to the house and kicked the door open as he jumped inside and closed it again. He was still breathing heavily when he noticed the old woman standing in the corner of what looked like a kitchen.

"I'm sorry, I thought no one was here!" he cried hoping she wouldn't kick him out of the house, not that he would have left that easily. Landon was very strong, even for a boy his age, but he preferred if it didn't get to that.

"It's okay boy," she said, much to Landon's relief. "Them wolves would've eaten you whole if you weren't so fast with your legs and them so weak from hunger, you are a very lu…" and then she stopped. Her eyes were now focusing on the red liquid coming out of the bottom of Landon's shirt. "You are hurt boy," she said with a calm voice while pointing at his belly. Landon hadn't even noticed until then, _I must have hurt myself with my father's dagger_ ; suddenly he felt a sting of pain and fell to his knees crying from the pain.

"Come now boy, I'll fix you" said the old woman as she signaled for Landon to follow her. He obeyed, standing up and moving slowly so the wound wouldn't hurt. She led him to a bed that was separated from the kitchen by a curtain that hanged from the roof. "Lay down while I go get some things" she said, and made her way to the kitchen at an agonizingly slow place.

When she returned she had a glass filled with some green liquid, a needle and some thread. "Drink child, or it will hurt," she said as she handed him the glass and pulled a chair closer to the bed to begin the sewing.

The nauseating sour scent cloyed the damp air around him, and he curled his lip to drive the smell out of his nose, "What is this?"

"The closest thing you'll find to milk of the poppy north of the wall, boy" she said apologetically "It's just gone a little bad, that's all, still works just fine". Landon closed his eyes, took the glass with both hands and drank it all.

"That's a good boy," the old woman said grinning at him. "What were you doing in the forest all alone child? I can tell you are not from this side of the wall"

"I was following my dog, he... he ran away" said Landon, the milk of the poppy had started to take effect and he was now drowsy.

"The wrong side of the wall is no place for summer boys, or any children for that matter" said the old woman angrily "except for the children of the forest, but that's another story". The old woman then leaned closely to the boy until her face was only inches away from his. It was then that he noticed her eyes; they didn't look like normal eyes and they seemed to be slowly changing color.

"Have you heard of the children of the forest, boy?" she said, a hint of mystery in her voice. Landon could feel his head growing heavier, his pulse slowing down and his body preparing to sink into a profound and peaceful sleep but curiosity won him over so he shook his head saying no.

The old woman rose from her chair and lit up the lantern that was hanging on top of the bed. Landon hadn't realized just how dark the house had been until then. He saw now that the house was not really that but a cave made of trees that leaned over, protecting them from the cold.

The woman adjusted the lamp so that the light would hit Landon's wound directly. "Lay down, boy" she said to Landon who had stood up to have a better look at the trees. He did as he was bid and laid down on the hard bed. The old woman passed the thread through the needle and pushed the wound together to start sewing. Landon didn't feel a thing, _that rancid shit is stronger than I expected_ , he thought.

The old woman glanced quickly at him and then back at his wound to keep sewing, a small smile appeared in her lips as if she knew what Landon was thinking, it left a strange feeling on him.

"My mother once told me a story about little people living in the forest but that they had all died a long time ago, was she talking about the children?" he asked, he didn't really want to talk about magical creatures and horror stories, he was already too scared by the old woman and the tree house but the silence in the house made him uneasy.

"Seems so, boy" the woman responded, "Would you like to hear a tale about them?"

He sensed the tiredness taking over his body and his eyes growing heavier but still nodded his head.

"It is not known for how long the children dwelt in the lands we now call the seven kingdoms", the old woman began "but they were the only ones here and they had all the forests to themselves" a breeze made the lamp waver causing the light to glimmer and throwing the surrounding trees into a gloomy dance that made Landon shiver.

"They first came in contact with humans with the arrival of the First Men and they were quickly thrown into a war against them. For two thousand years both groups fought desperately, men with their swords and horses and the children with their magic" she said in a calm voice though Landon could see a glimpse of sadness in her eyes. "Eventually and after many deaths the leaders of both groups agreed to a pact of peaceful coexistence. To ensure this pact they arranged a marriage between the men's most skilled warrior who was said to have fought a thousand battles without shedding even the tiniest drop of blood and the daughter of the children's leader. She was a wise child, boy. Do you know what that is?"

"No" said Landon, he was getting weaker and could barely hear the old woman's voice.

"A wise child is the name given to those very few children of the forest who had the greensight, boy" she responded. " _That_ is the ability to have prophetic dreams, greenseers can also skinchange and control the minds of animals. It is said that one man in a thousand is born a skinchanger, and one skinchanger in a thousand can be a greenseer. The gods just flip a coin to it", she said laughing.

"This leader's daughter was not just both but she could also control the forest with them trees and rivers, the only known child to have these abilities. She was very beautiful too; legends say the gods had given her all the beauty and powers of the forest as well as immortality to make up for killing her mother when she was giving birth to her. But, later when the daughter had prayed to them to give her mother back to her, the gods had been so consumed by the beauty they had blessed her with that they weren't able to refuse her prayers and agreed to bring her mother back to life once more"

The old woman had finished sewing Landon's wound and cleaned her bloody hands on a piece of cloth, she sighed and continued "Both warrior and daughter married on the Isle of Faces where the pact had been agreed, they remained there until the day of their deaths. It is also said, boy, that the warrior and the daughter had a baby, a girl beautiful as the mother and human like the father. She looked like every other human baby, her skin was a dark pink like her father's and her hair silvery-gold, much like your Targaryen king, boy, you know the one that likes his fire so much. The only physical trait she had that belonged to the children's was her eyes, the eyes of a cat, boy, large and green, with vertical slit-like pupils. Those eyes could see down passages where a human's eyes saw only blackness"

"Like your eyes" Landon replied

"What? These things?" she said pointing at her eyes and letting out a hard laugh, "the product of a disease, boy, can't see shit with 'em, I'm surprised I even got the thread into the needle even more sew your bloody wound" she said laughing again.

"What happened to the warrior and the daughter... and their baby?" asked Landon

"Legends say that when the baby was born the leader's daughter gave her immortality back to the gods and prayed for them to give it to her new born instead. The warrior died first, boy, a human death, filled with sickness and pain and the wise child died many years later, some say at the hands of the Others some say she died of grief over her lost husband. It is also said that their child –who had also been blessed with her mother's unique abilities –cursed with having to witness not just both her parents' death but the children of the forest's as well still wanders the northern woods, her face beautiful and young as ever but her soul filled with the desire for revenge" the old woman's sick eyes were filled with pain but she smiled nevertheless

"And what happened to the rest of the children? Why did they died?" inquired Landon

"Shit happened, boy," she said letting out a little laugh, "After the war with the Others the children retreated deeper into the forests, by the time of Aegon's landing they hadn't been seen for thousands of years. Now,  _boy_ , time to rest" she said as she stood up from the chair, turned off the lamp and walked away.

That night Landon dreamt of the children, of the warrior, of the daughter and of their baby. He dreamt of the old woman and his mother and the tale she had told him. He had been dreaming he was running in the forest when a deep, loud howl woke him up. He opened his eyes and looked around expecting to see the old woman flashing his crooked teeth at him but she wasn't there and neither was the tree house. _"It couldn't all have been a dream,"_  he thought  _"The wolves, the cold, the blood… the blood!"_ he thought, remembering his wound as he raised his shirt to find nothing, not even a scar. He took off his shirt and examined it closely, trying to find even the tiniest drop of blood that proved he wasn't going insane. He threw the shirt against the wall out of anger when he found  _nothing "Get your shit together Landon, of course it was a fucking dream, stupid children of the forest, stupid old woman"_ he cursed as he put his boots on and passed a finger through one of the holes in his shoes  _"I must have dozed off before I had a chance to cut that bloody dog's fur"_  he thought  _"where IS that dog anyways?_ "


	2. Sansa

Sansa had been lying in her bed trying to sleep when a heavy knock on the door startled her.

"Yes?" she responded with a tired voice.

"The king demands your presence in the throne room," the man behind the door yelled back.

As she pulled herself out of bed and threw a silk robe over her body she noticed the weak rays of sunlight that were beginning to bright her chamber. _Joffrey must have woken specially early today_ , thought Sansa. Suddenly remembering Robb and her mother she felt all the tiredness leave her and fear take its place. What if Lord Tywin had captured Robb or her mother?, surely Joffrey would have been delighted to be the first one to break the news to her. But what if he had killed them?, _what if_ … then she remembered Arya. Sansa hadn't seen her sister since her father had been accused of treason. She had hoped and prayed that her sister had escaped the cloaks and somehow gotten herself out of kings landing. The queen refused to talk about her and Joffrey just ignored her questions but somehow she knew that Arya was safe, she felt it.

Her thoughts were interrupted with another heavy knock on the door.

"Lady Sansa? Are you there? The king requests your presence", said the now recognizable voice of Ser Dontos.

"Come in" said Sansa, trying to hide the fear from her voice.

The door sprung open making a heavy sound as it hit the wall, Sansa jumped startled by the sound. The Hound appeared in the entrance with Ser Dontos right behind.

"Go wake up her maids, the king wants her pretty," said the Hound. Ser Dontos muttered something that sounded like a curse but obeyed nonetheless.

The Hound stood in the entrance, his armor shining with every beam of light that touched it, his hair –or what was left of it– as dirty as ever covering his half burned face. He was drunk as usual, almost to drunk to stand up and the smell of wine, sex and death had started to fill up the room; he had been enjoying the pleasure of Littlefinger's newest acquisitions when the king had called on him as well.

She had gotten used to looking at his scarred face, she no longer feared him. He was the only member of the kingsguard that hadn't hit her, yet. Once, the king had ordered his dog to punish her for not calling him "His grace", but the Hound had refused and walked away, as if he had been talking to the small folk. Joffrey simply turned over to Ser Meryn and ordered him to hit her instead, he knew better than to argue with the Hound.

"The king demands your presence in the throne room", repeated Sandor in and almost incomprehensible way. "Hurry up".

Sansa's worst fears came back to her, Joffrey was summoning her to tell her that the rest of her family was dead, killed in battle or killed escaping kings landing. She felt all the blood rush to her head as she sat down in the corner of her bed.

Realizing what had happened Sandor walked clumsily towards the jar filled with wine that was sitting on the marble table and poured two cups.

"It's going to be okay little bird, your family is safe", the Hound said with a voice so soft that shocked even himself; he blamed the wine for it.

He walked towards her and awkwardly offered her the cup; she took it reluctantly in her soft hands and sniffed the dark liquid, causing her to feel drowsy. The Hound laughed loudly at the look from her face, clearly nauseated from the smell of the wine.

"Drink it all, girl", said the Hound as he gulped down his wine.

Sansa took a sip from the cup; she could feel the warm liquid burning down her throat and couldn't help but cough heavily as it reached her belly. The Hound laughed again as he took her cup from her and put it down on the table not before finishing it himself.

"Don't you think you've drank enough?" said Sansa as she rose from the bed, clearly annoyed by the Hound's laugh.

Sandor stopped laughing and raised his eyes to meet hers. His mouth had turned into a half grin as he approached her slowly until his face was only inches away from hers. She had never seen his scar up so close before, she was about to raise her hand and touch his burned face when he grabbed her by the wrists and shoved her against the wall.

"Careful, little bird, if you weren't about to see the king I would have already taken you in that bed"

"You wouldn't hurt me" she said, her voice trembling.

The Hound said nothing but just stood there for what seemed like several minutes. His face so close to hers she could smell the wine in his breath. For a moment she thought about how it would feel to kiss him, to touch him or even love him. Sansa couldn't help but wonder if he had ever loved anyone and if anyone had ever loved him back, _certainly not his brother._ Sansa realized she knew little about the Hound and even less about Sandor.

Until finally he spoke, "No, little bird. I won't hurt you."

He pulled a chair from the corner of the room and sat down. "Unless you want to, little bird" letting out a hard laugh.

Sansa stood up, her body filled with rage. _I'm not a little bird anymore, Joffrey made sure of that._ She was becoming a wolf, and she would prove it to him, to everyone. Sansa walked towards the jar filled with wine and started to drink directly from it thinking thought it would give her courage, instead it gave her nauseas.

_If my septa could see me now, she wouldn't recognize me_. Sansa could feel the wine numbing her senses and the fire in her throat fading; she drank until the jar was empty and turned around to see a wide-eyed, mouth-opened Sandor. He started laughing he realized what had just happened.

"What!" yelled a now very drunk Sansa.

He ignored her and kept laughing, her eyes were becoming watery with tears.

In a moment of anger Sansa closed her eyes, grabbed the empty jar of wine and threw it as hard as she could to the wall behind the Hound, it wasn't until she opened her eyes again that she realized what she had done. She wasn't sure whether the jar had hit the wall or the Hound all she knew was that it laid broken on the ground in what looked like infinite pieces and Sandor was looking right into her eyes with fury? Pity? She couldn't tell, but there was something dark in them.

Sansa started backing away slowly trying to increase the distance between them and trying to reach the door that led to the other room of her chamber. Sandor stood up, pieces of the jar breaking as he moved forward stepping on them. He tried to grab Sansa by the arm but she managed to open the door and step into the other room, quickly closing it again and locking it. _It won't matter_ , she thought, _he'll just kick it open._

Some minutes passed and she figured he must have left the room since the door was still intact. Sansa tried to sit in the corner of her bathtub but miscalculated and landed flat on the floor. _It was a mistake to drink that much wine,_ she thought; she blamed the Hound for it.

She took the silk dress that Shae had hanged the day before; it was a gift from Joffrey. The dress was a beautiful light gray, so light it appeared white sometimes and turned lilac under the sun. It had a delicate golden chain that fastened around her neck to support the weight of the dress. It wasn't close fitting but it still enhanced the slight curves on her innocent body. _Not innocent for long_ , she thought. The queen had told her she would have her first bleeding any day now, this meant she could marry Joffrey and carry his sons, before she would have been delighted with the idea but now it meant she would have to stay a prisoner here forever.

"Hurry the FUCK UP!" growled the Hound from the other room.

_He hasn't left_. She didn't understand why the king had summoned her so early in the day, she did know she would surely get a few slaps but she was used to them by now. She put on the dress and opened the door as she quickly scanned the room for Sandor. She found him sitting in a chair, arms crossed and _sleeping?_ She walked out of the room and into her bedchamber as silent as she could.

"What the hell took you so long, girl?" growled the Hound as he opened his eyes and noticed the dress.

"Pretty feathers for a pretty bird" he murmured.

"You said I had to look pretty for the king," said Sansa, her cheeks blushing from the way Sandor was looking at her.

"Aye, you do. He's probably going to beat you bloody this time" he said, no sign of mocking or amusement on his tone.

"W-what do you mean? I haven't done anything" her voice braking as she spoke.

"It wasn't you little bird, it's the wolf king and that bastard brother of yours" said the Hound. He stood and started making way towards the water filled jar. He had drank to much wine, maybe water would help.

_Robb and Jon?_ Robb she understood, he had ben proclaimed King in the North by his people and that made him a rebel but _Jon?_ _What does Jon have to do with this?_ As far as she knew he was a member of the Nights Watch and they took no sides on the conflicts of the realm.

"What about Jon? What has he done?" She asked, trying as hard as she could to hide the panic that was starting to fill her. The wine helped.

"Seven hells! Gods know what your bastard brother did, I don't give a shit, but the king is upset and if you make him wait any longer she will have that pretty head of yours on a spike before the day even starts" snapped the Hound, the words sounding harder and fiercer than he had wanted to.

"Don't call him a bastard!" Sansa growled back. _That wine was definitely not a good idea_. She had treated Jon differently in the past, often calling him his half-brother but now she didn't care, she just wanted things to be like they used to be.

"But he is a bastard isn't he? We seem to be having more of those by the day," he said, immediately realizing the wine had made him say more than he should have.

_Was he talking about Joffrey? Were the rumors true?_ Sansa was about to ask him when Ser Boros knocked on the doorframe, Shae and another maid she didn't recognized were behind him.

"What took you so fucking long?" the Hound snapped at Ser Boros.

The maids entered the room as the Hound left not without first shooting a warning glance at Sansa that made her shiver.

Shae glanced at the pieces of broken jar on the floor and looked over at Sansa, worry in her eyes.

"Don't ask" said Sansa in a tired voice.

Shae nodded and grabbed a brush from the marble table. She started brushing her hair until it was smooth enough and shiny enough while the other maid scrubbed oils into her bare arms and neck. When they were done she stood up and examined herself in the mirror, she had to be pretty.

The dress was too revealing for her taste, she wasn't used to the dresses the women wore in kings landing. In the North the dresses were twice as thick and the sleeves were as long as the dress itself to keep the cold out, in kings landing the dresses were made from a fine silk, so fine that with the right amount of sunlight one could see right through, and they wore no sleeves. It made her feel uncomfortable and look like a whore, surely the reason why Joffrey had given her the dress in the first place. The thought of him gave her nauseas or maybe it was the wine.

She opened the door and saw the Hound lying against the wall with the arms crossed, to her disappointment Ser Boros had left. He looked at her and for a moment she thought he saw a flicker of a smile on his lips but it faded away as quickly as it came.

She had given two steps when she tripped with her own feet and fell to the ground. The other maid left out a giggle but the dreadful looks Shae and the Hound shot her silenced her. They helped Sansa to her feet and Shae fixed and smoothed her dress.

" _What did you gave her?_ " The exotic handmaiden yelled at Sandor and gave him a look filled with hate as she commanded the other maid to bring a glass of water from her chamber.

"Its not my fault the little bird wanted to play wolf and drank the whole jar of wine" he growled back.

Shae snatched the glass of water from the other maid so fast half of its contents spilled on the floor. "Here m'lady, drink, it will do you good"

Sansa drank the water, but she could still feel the nauseas forming in her belly.

"Call the Maester" Shae ordered the other maid.

"No, there's no time, she has left him waiting long enough" the Hound answered instead.

"You can't expect her to go like this" Shae was looking at him as if he had gone insane, she could have slapped him right through the face but somehow managed to contain herself.

"He won't notice, he won't care, if he suspects or says anything just tell him she's sick, I'll stand by it and he'll believe it" and with that he put an arm beneath Sansa's legs and the other arm at her back lifting her carefully and started walking towards the throne room.

"Thank you" murmured Sansa and hid her face against his chest. Maybe it was the wine but her face had blushed prettily making the color in her eyes stand out.


	3. Sandor

"Lady Sansa Stark of Winterfell" cried the knight at the door.

Sandor walked in with Sansa in arms and the two maids following rapidly, he could hear murmurs and whispers from the crowd that had gathered –knights, members of the kingsguard, the queen's maidens some knights from the City's Watch and the council –Sandor cursed in his head as he saw how they all tried to get a glimpse of the little bird in his arms.

News from the Wall had just arrived to kings landing. Joffrey was sitting on the Iron Throne, both his legs over the armrest, he was wearing a golden chemise that matched his blonde hair and a crown that was clearly too big for his head. To his right sat the queen regent, Cersei, she had chosen a green dress that contrasted with the color of her eyes and a golden necklace that had enough precious stones to buy everyone in flea bottom a round of the most exquisite whores and even some wine. She had been reading a letter when Sandor walked in, bird in arms.

"What is the meaning of this?" asked the queen with a cold tone, looking down at the drunken Sansa and the Hound.

"M'lady" Shae stepped out from behind the Hound and vowed awkwardly "Lady Sansa has been sick, she hasn't left bed in over two days". This was partially true, she had been hurting since her last _punishment_ and left only at night to go to the godswood to pray. The Hound left Sansa on the floor and went to take his place next to the King.

"It's true your grace, she hasn't left the room," said the Hound.

"I didn't ask you. A dog talks only when he is asked to do so" the king snapped "but still, you should have told me," the King flashed his mocking smile "I wouldn't want my lady to be in pain"

 _Little shit, thought_ Sandor.

"Can she hear us? Can she talk? Can she do anything at all?" asked the queen clearly annoyed by Sansa's condition. "News from the Wall" she said; pointing at the piece of paper she had just handed over to the king.

"My lady" said the king in a soft voice " it appears your bastard brother has been named Lord Commander of the Night's Watch". Whispers and gossip filled the room.

"Do you understand what this means, little dove?" The queen's face was locked on Sansa's.

Sansa struggled to get up on her feet, "No" she said, her voice clear of all hesitation and fear.

"No, my queen" said Cersei, her face still locked on Sansa's

"It means the Night's Watch have shamed themselves by electing a bastard to command them" said the king in a dark voice, his eyes filled with joy at the anticipation of what was to come "So I've taken it upon myself to give them they're honor back, I'm declaring war on the brotherhood of the Night's Watch". This time the room exploded with protests and signs of disapproval.

"SHUT UP!" shouted the king. "Unless" he resumed, "the Night's Watch handover your bastard brother to me" his face lit up as she saw Sansa's eyes fill with fear and anger. "Unfortunately my lady" he smiled again, "as you know only death can end the oath of the Night's Watch"

 _Piece of shit, you can't even handle one Stark brother and now you want to kill the other and declare war on the Wall? You'll turn the entire kingdom against us,_ thought Sandor. He could see the queen staring at her son, fury showing in her face. Clearly she hadn't been consulted on the matter, and this had been as much a surprise to her as to everyone else.

Sandor watched as the little bird's face changed from white to red and her hands turned to fists.

"Careful now" said Sansa to her betrothed in a menacing voice "you wouldn't want to give people the idea that bastards are expendable, or they might go looking for a new king".

Not a whisper was heard from the crowd in the throne room, they were too shocked and scared to say anything; even Sandor's mouth had dropped open. _My words, those were my words in her mouth, I said that, I got her dunk, I called Joffrey a bastard,_ he thought.

Cersei's face was still locked on Sansa's, she had gone pale but her expression was unreadable. The king on the other hand was bursting with anger; he was about to yell something when the doors flew open and Tyrion came in.

"I'm never invited to my nephew's lovely gatherings" he said to Bronn, his new sellsword. Joffrey turned to give a look of disgust to his uncle.

"What are _you_ doing here?" said Joffrey, with hatred in his voice.

Sandor hated the Imp, he hated everyone but he loathed the Imp even more. He was able to bring the best of his ugliness and that was something Sandor had never been able to do, and for that he despised him. But now he was grateful for his presence, Tyrion had often managed to calm his nephew when it came down to Sansa's _punishments_ and now he might be the difference between her life and death.

"I'm the hand's king, you know, I'm _supposed_ to give you advice, counsel and guidance in matters of the realm, at _all_ times. How can I do that if you keep having this little meetings without me?" said Tyrion, as he tilted his head " you should learn to listen to me nephew, last time you didn't you threw us all into a war"

"Fine then, since you insist on being informed on everything then maybe you should know lady Sansa has called your grace a bastard" Said Cersei with a cold tone.

Tyrion's jaw dropped as he tried to contain a giggle and turned to look at the pale, drunk Sansa. His face was now darker and his gaze had become serious. "Lady Sansa, that's a serious thing you've accused the King of, surely you understand the gravity of the situation. This cannot go unpunished."

"Are you mocking us brother? I thought you of all people would oppose the idea of anyone touching your precious lady", said the Queen.

"I will not stand here and have my sister's or my nephew's honor questioned!" shouted the Imp "she _will_ be punished"

 _NO! You can't abandon her now, stupid Imp, it was MY fault_ , the Hound's hand was stiff and trembling around his sword. _One blow and this would all be over, Sansa would be safe, and there would be two Kingslayers in Westeros._

The Hound was about to unveil his sword when the King called him, "Dog", his voice was calm but he could see his hands trembling from the anger boiling inside him.

"Yes?" said the hound. _What the fuck do you want now_ , _piece of shit._

"Call on Ser Ilyn Payne, my uncle wishes to see the little wolf bitch punished" said Joffrey, his tone giving away his excitement.

"No, Sandor" it was the first time the Imp had called the Hound by his name, as if he had guessed what he was about to do "That won't be necessary"

" _You_ said she would be punished," growled the king.

"And she will your grace, but there is no need for the King's justice, any other knight can do the beating" said Tyrion.

"I want her executed!" demanded Joffrey; his voice and eyes were so full of anger and madness he had started to sound like an actual king.

"And I want my brother back, surely you haven't forgotten him, he is the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, tall, blonde, looks just like _you_ …" said Tyrion "killing Lady Sansa will most definitely end in his death, and we don't want that do we?"

"I DON'T CARE," shouted the King, "I want _her_ dead"

Cersei suddenly snapped, "No! He is your uncle, your blood! And you would let him die at the hands of those _north men_? Those savages? They will torture him, they will set their wolfs on him, I won't allow that!"

Tyrion was smiling, he knew his sister all too well, her love for Jaime had betrayed her. Joffrey had his eyes locked on Cersei's for what seemed like hours, he was thinking about something, his eyes had grown darker, his face older.

"Ser Meryn, Dog, you will see to Lady Sansa's punishment, both of you" Said the king in a dark voice and shifted his gaze to Sansa "I want her to beg for death, I want her to dream of death, I want to see your hands bleed from all the beating, I want to see every corner of the room painted with blood, I want you to fuck her from every hole in her body, I want you beat her until she forgets who she is, until she forgets the word bastard, until she forgets how it is to live without pain". And with that he stood up and left the room. Ser Arys and Ser Boros following him rapidly.

The hound walked towards Sansa and lifted her up, "don't worry about that one little bird," he said when he noticed Sansa looking at Ser Meryn. He hadn't realized the Imp was standing right behind him until he said, "You ought to call her little wolf now, dog" and gave him a crooked smile before waddling away.

"Aye. Little wolf." He said, approving of the name.


	4. Joffrey

The morning, which had started sunny and bright had now turned gray and bitter cold, somewhere in the distance a wolf howled. Joffrey left the throne room as fast as he could to avoid the stares and the murmurs.

"That wolf bitch! How dare she call me a bastard!, I'll show her, I'll show them all…  I'll kill her bastard brother! Better yet I'll capture him and make him rape her until she gives birth to a dozen bastards and then I'll make him rape her again," he yelled angrily hoping his threats would silence the gossip in the throne room.

His squire had been sitting at the marble table in the royal chamber drinking the king's wine when Joffrey burst into the room. The boy raised his eyes to meet Joffrey's and muttered something before falling to the ground and begging for forgiveness all while vomiting in the carpet.

Joffrey's face was red. He never liked the boy, but when his mother asked him if he could take him as a squire he had accepted, after all he used to be his father's squire and he was also his cousin. But looking at him, covered in bile and wine he couldn't imagine being related to such pathetic creature. Any other day Joffrey would've demanded his head, but not today, today he had other people to behead.

The king raised a hand gesturing him to stop. " Call my mother, tell her the king wishes to see her. If she refuses tell Ser Arys to  _ask_ her again"

The squire vowed awkwardly and left the room leaving Joffrey alone in his bedchamber.  _If the wolf bitch is_  right, he thought as he drank what remained of the wine, _if I'm a bastard… it's not impossible, my mother is a whore and i've seen them together; she has never looked at my father the way she looked at uncle Jaime… THAT BITCH!._ Joffrey had been to absorbed in his own thoughts to notice his mother entering the room.

"How dare  _you!_ " protested the queen "Commanding me to come as if I were a dog, I'm your mother, not a whore! The  _queen!_ "

Joffrey turned around to face his mother, "YOU!" he growled "And I'm the king, and I'll do whatever the fuck I want".

Cercei's face grew pale, she had never seen her son this upset, it was amazing how much older he seemed to her now, as if he had aged ten years in the past two hours.

"Is it true?" he asked, his voice almost trembling with anger.

Cersei's face turned red "You can't expect me to stand here and have my honor questioned by my own son! Your grandfather will hear of this! I won't…"

"Is it true?" interrupted the king, his voice so dark for a moment it reminded him of the old stories of the mad king.

"Of course not!" said Cersei.

"Good" Joffrey didn't believe her, but it was useless, she would deny it until the end of her existence. No, he would have to find out elsewhere.

Cersei was about to exit the chamber when Joffrey grabbed her by the arm, stopping her.

"Oh and mother," he said smiling "if I find out that you lied to me I'll make sure we win this war for the sole purpose of bringing Jaime back," his smile had turned into a grin and his eyes were locked on hers.

"I'll have my entire kingsguard rape him, and then I'll make them rape you as well, you'll have so many cocks up your holes you'll forget how it feels to be empty and when your belly starts growing from all the bastards inside you, I'll make them rape you even harder and when you give birth to them I'll kill them in front of you and make them fuck you while their cocks are still dripping with your dead bastards blood" 

He could see all the color fading away from her mother's face. "Now you can leave".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I know this is a little short but i promise i'll make up for it in the next chapter. Thanks for reading!


	5. Tyrion

Varys stood over the brazier, warming his soft hands. "It would appear Lady Sansa is growing tired of Kings Landing, my Lord" he said giggling.

"More like growing tired of living, my dear Varys" responded Tyrion.

Varys had come to him after the chaos in the throne room,  _Cersei must have sent him_ , he thought.

"Still my Lord, I can't help but feel sad for the poor girl, all away from Winterfell and most of her family dead"

"Yes, well wars  _do_  kill people, Lord Varys"

Varys giggled again and looked at him, a hint of humor in his eyes "You are right my Lord, wars do kill people but  _wars_  had nothing to do with Ned Stark's death…"

 _He likes playing games, and I'm too tired for games, you win this one._  "You are implying something Varys and I'm too exhausted to figure out what  _so_  let's skip all the foreplay and go straight to the point, yes?"

He tittered "It's about the king, my Lord, and his throne"

"Ah, yes, the  _king_ ," Tyrion muttered sourly. "My nephew is not fit to sit a privy, let alone the Iron throne"  _but you already know that, what do you want?_

"I agree, can you imagine how easy life would be if the other one had been born first? The little one?" said Varys, in a serious voice.

 _Where are you going with this eunuch?_  "Tommen?" Tyrion said shooking his head "He's just a kid, he knows nothing about Westeros, about being a king, he wouldn't do bad but he would also do no good, he would do nothing"

"And that would make him the best king to ever live, he'd do whatever he was told like a good king should" said Varys. Tyrion saw a glimpse of hesitation in his eyes but he continued nonetheless. "All men die, my Lord"

A cold chill crept down Tyrion's spine as he realized what the spider was hinting at.  _If Tommen was king…_

There was only one way Tommen would become king. No, he had thought about it many times but he would never do it, Joffrey was his blood, and Jaime's son as much as Cersei denied it. He wondered if Jaime knew,  _of course he knows, the boy looks just like him but does he love him?_

"Cersei would castrate you again if she found out about our little conversation"  _or does she already know? Maybe she thinks I want Joffrey dead_

"I won't tell her if you don't, my Lord," giggled Varys

"Still, I could have your head off for saying that," he told Varys

The eunuch took a deep breath. "Renly… is dead… Stannis commands most of his troops now, my Lord"

"Yes, I know. And he is sailing his way to kings landing as we speak"

"Yes, my Lord, but what about Lord Renly's death?" asked Varys

"What about it?" responded Tyrion.

"The whole matter, it was a most mysterious and fortuitous murder, don't you think my Lord?" The eunuch paused a moment. "My Lord, you once asked me how it was that I was cut…"

"Yes, and I recall you did not want to talk about it" said Tyrion

"I still don't, but… desperate times, my Lord, call for desperate measures. I was an orphan boy apprentice to the owner of a whorehouse, much like our friend Petyr. Now that I come to think about it my master was exactly like Lord Baelish. One day, a certain man came to my master and made him an offer too tempting to refuse. I thought he would take me away the next day but instead I stayed in the whorehouse for several months" Varys stopped to drink some wine and cleaned his sweaty hands on his robe.

"I knew what the man wanted to do with me, I had had many days to wrap my head around the idea until I was scared no more, but there in his tent, away from the whorehouse and my master, I felt powerless, my Lord... until I saw the blade. He gave me a potion that made me incapable to move or speak, yet did nothing to dull my senses. He sliced me root and stem, chanting all the while. I watched him as he burned my manhood on a brazier. The flames turned blue and then red and then gold, and I heard a voice answer his call. I still dream of that night, my Lord. Not of the man but of the fire and the voice that came from the flames"

There was a long pause after that, It made Tyrion feel uncomfortable. "A very sad story, my friend. I'm sorry, but what…?"

"There's a Lady, my Lord. She travels with Lord Stannis, Lady Melisandre they call her. My whisperers say she is a red priest, some say that her dark magic killed Lord Renly"

"Dark… magic?"

"You don't believe me my Lord, but it's true, I've seen it"

"I believe, in gold, steel swords and tits, Lord Varys." Said Tyrion "the rest is just… wary. As for Lord Renly's murder, I've heard Stannis sent a ship to the Free cities and hired a Faceless Man to kill his lovely brother"

"Yes, the Faceless Men are quite skilled, my Lord, but not  _that_  skilled. Even so, we must not underestimate Lord Stannis"

"Are you scared Lord Varys?"

"Worried, my Lord, and anxious. I've hated magic ever since my incident and if Lord Stannis is using such to win the throne, I mean to see him dead"

"And what exactly do you propose we do to fight off Stannis?" Tyrion asked.

"King Joffrey has proven to be a remarkable king, no doubt, my Lord. But, he is not suited for war and war is coming," said Varys with a strong voice, though Tyrion could see hesitation and fear in his eyes.

Tyrion sighed,  _if Varys is not with Cersei, then who is he with?_  "Spike. Head. Yours" he warned.  _Just because he is not loyal to my sister it doesn't mean he is loyal to me._

"My Lord, it was only a simple suggestion to a problem" he giggled nervously, "Quarreling will not serve us, take heart,"

"Whose?" asked Tyrion. He could think of many options.

"I'll let you decide, my Lord" he tittered, "You and me, we both want what's best for the realm. If Lord Stannis has the red god on his side we must rise to the threat he poses". And with that Varys left the chamber.

"The realm could survive a few less councilors as well as kings," Tyrion said to himself as he poured a glass of wine. The idea of killing Joffrey was not a new one; he had thought about it ever since he took Eddard Stark's head and threw everyone into a war but he had decided not to act on it.  _The gods and his people will judge him_.

The day had passed without any more disturbances, and Tyrion was glad for that. Lady Sansa had decided to remain in her chamber for the rest of the evening and Joffrey had just gotten a new sword and was out terrorizing peasants with it. As for Cersei she had also decided to stay in her chamber, a decision that had brightened Tyrion's day even more. He had retired to his room after dining, eager to continue his reading when a knock on the door startled him making him spill his wine over his book. _Fuck._

 _"_ What?"

"King Stan… Lord Stannis is here; his ships have been spotted. Three hours until he reaches Kings Landing" Bronn said as he opened the door.

 _Fuck "_ Five hours ago my nephew was declaring war to the Watch, luckily for us that'll have to wait. Bring Podd" he said "and Shae"  _Fuck it all_ , he was sick of caution, he wanted Shae in his bed before he rode to war, to kiss her, to fuck her, to hear her tell him she loved him, even though it was a lie.  _She was a whore, she IS a whore, you've been through this before Tyrion, are you really that stupid?_

Podd slammed the door as he entered the chamber, startling Tyrion who was pouring himself the rest of the wine. "Doesn't anyone knock anymore? If people don't knock anymore I don't know what we are going to war for" said Tyrion with a serious voice.

"Y-you called for me, my Lord," mumbled Podd.  _Great, now I've scared the boy, I must be drunker than I thought._

"Yes Podd, please bring my armor and my ax if you would be so kind" he said as he noticed Shae entering the room. "Bring it in an hour Podd" his eyes locked on Shae's body "An hour and a half better"

"But, my Lord, the wa…" Tyrion closed the door before Podd had the chance to finish.

"You should be kinder to him, my Lord, he admires you a great deal" said Shae

"I know. I don't deserve him. I feel terrible, help me feel good again". Tyrion grinned.

Shae pushed him to the bed and started undoing his laces; she took his pants off and threw them to the side of the chamber. She took of her gown with one quick move, Tyrion could see her nipples getting hard, he loved that he could have that reaction on her. He started caressing them gently as he entered her, soft moans coming from her mouth. She was moving faster now, almost jumping. Tyrion let out a groan and bit her neck, and then her breasts and then her lips. He kissed her passionately until their mouths were sore and then he moved on to her breasts again. He licked them and kissed them, her nipples getting harder with every touch of his mouth.

"My lion" she moaned, a smile of delight brimming over. He gripped the back of her hair as she groaned again, her nails digging into his skin.

After they were done she got out of bed and poured herself a glass of water, then she jumped back to bed again and pulled him close to her chest, his face resting on top of her breasts.

"I love you," he said.

"I know you do" she responded sliding her hand through his hair.

"You are supposed to say it back, you know"

"I love you," she whispered in his ear.

"If I die tonight, will you miss me?"

"Does it matter? You won't even notice, you'll be dead," she said teasingly, her eyes closing.

Shae hadn't moved for a while so he figured she must have fallen asleep. He turned around to face her,  _so beautiful and all mine, no… she's not mine, are you really never going to learn Tyrion?_  He was arguing with himself when a knock on the door interrupted him.

"My Lord? I have your armor, my Lord," said Podd

 _Ah, yes, the war…_  Shae had made him forget about the war, she was good at making him forget. He stood from the bed and threw a medium sized robe around his body.

"Come in, Podd" The boy opened the door cautiously and nervously.

"Well, hurry up, Podd. There's a war going on and don't act like you haven't seen tits before" he said when he caught Podd's eyes glancing towards Shae naked body lying in bed "I know what the whores say about you, we have some serious things to discuss, my friend" he said with a voice so serious that made the matter sound as if it was of life and death.

Podd blushed so hard that for a moment Tyrion was genuinely worried the boy's face might explode. Nevertheless he laid the ax on the floor and helped Tyrion into his armor. It had been specially made for him, small on the legs, medium on the chest, huge on the head. He looked himself in the mirror,  _the smaller the target, the smaller the chances to hit it_ , he thought calming himself. By the time he was properly dressed Shae had already woken up and was putting her dress back on.

"It's time," Bronn yelled from the other side of the door as he knocked loudly.

"I know!" Tyrion yelled back.

"My Lady, I must go" he turned to look at Shae "If I die I give you full permission to touch yourself to the memory of our many encounters" he said smiling.

Shae blushed.  _I made a whore blush? That's a first time…_  he thought.

"Don't do anything stupid, Tyrion," she said, her voice grave and her eyes serious.

She kissed him and then stood up and opened the door; Bronn was leaning on the wall with his arms folded, he turned to look at her and smiled, she smiled back. "Don't let anything happen to him," she warned.

"Yes, my Lady" Bronn said and gave her a half grin. Sometimes Tyrion felt that Bronn had feelings for Shae, but then he reminded himself that he was a sellsword and Shae was a whore, and that they only had feelings for money.  _Why do you torture yourself Tyrion?_  He thought.

"Take care of her, Podd" Said Tyrion.

"Yes, my Lord" he said, smiling.

"Not in  _that_  way, boy" said Tyrion grinning in a way that made Podd blush even more than before.

"I've heard stories about you…" Shae said to Podd, with a voice so seductive that made Tyrion jealous.

"Hey! I'm not dead yet," he forced out a laugh as left for the camps but the idea of Shae being with another men was enough to make Tyrion go mad.

Fucking Shae had given him the confidence he needed before the war, but now, walking through the lines of his armed men he could hear murmurs and drowned laughs as he waddled with his strange armor and his ax and he wondered, yet again, why he was going to war for them. From the distance he spotted his nephew fastening a white silk cloak on the shoulders of two newly named members of the Kingsguard, Ser Balon Swann and Ser Osmund Kettleblack.  _An odd choice those two, Cersei must have picked them_ Tyrion suspected, though against all chances Ser Osmund had proved loyal to him by selling some of her sister's secrets.

Tyrion had one last man to see before setting off to war. He made his way through the men and the horses and into the house of the alchemist's guild.

"My Lord, I knew you would come before war started, hmm, yes" said Hallyne

"I trust everything's ready…?" said Tyrion

"Yes, my Lord, everything is ready. Actually, we are more than ready, we have not only satisfied my Lord's request but we have surpassed it by eight hundred jars" the alchemist say, his voice filled with pride.

"Eight hundred jars?" exclaimed Tyrion "What am I to do with eight hundred more jars?"

"Well, my Lord, if you are going to burn something, why not make a show out of it" he giggled.

 _Sick old man_  thought Tyrion but responded with a smile nonetheless.

"How it is, if I may ask, that the guild managed to make this additional jars, I thought you said you might not even reach half the number of jars I requested"

"Certain spells, my Lord, hmm, they seem to be working better than they were"

"And why is that?" asked Tyrion, he was growing suspicious of the alchemist.

"The books say, my Lord, the spells work better in the presence of dragons. You wouldn't happen to have seen or know of any dragons about, do you?"

"Now that you mention it, I have. Oh also, the Others are marching towards us and the children of the forest are back" He said mockingly as he left the house.  _Gods save us all if that ever comes true._

"Everything ready?" asked Bronn who had stayed behind to guard the door.

"Yes, with any luck everything will go as planned and I won't end up burning half the city down" said Tyrion hopefully "Now, I need to find a certain dog, have you seen him or do I need to whistle?"

Bronn smirked and pointed at the two feet man standing on top of one of the walls that guarded the city. Next to him was the king and  _Lady Sansa?_

Tyrion waddled his way to the top of the wall not without half drowned laughs and whispers from the soldiers nearby following him all the way up.

"Lady Sansa, how weird to find you here; I trust my sister, the Queen, has asked you to join her and the other women  _inside_  the shielded room" Tyrion asked, glancing at his nephew who seemed to be smiling.  _He has something planned._

"She has, my Lord. But king Joffrey has asked me to come and witness the battle, he say's it's my punishment for what i did in the throne room, for the _lies_ i told" she said, her voice was soft but her eyes were filled with anger.

Tyrion went mad. "You may be the king but you can't force Sansa to witness this, I won't let you," he said, his eyes never leaving Joffrey's and his hands turning into fists.

"I'll have you arrested!" Joffrey yelled, sounding like a spoiled child.

"And then who will win your pretty little war for you, nephew?" said Tyrion grinding his teeth, he could feel all the blood in his body rushing to his head.

"It's okay, my Lord. If my love want's me here, I shall stay here" said Sansa, forcing out a smile.

Tyrion looked at her with eyes filled with pity and shame,  _you think he will die today don't you? You want to be here when that happens, you want to see how he dies and I don't blame you._  "As you wish, my Lady" forcing out a smile as well and then he turned to Bronn.

"Bring the Lady an armor, we can't have an arrow hitting her  _accidentally_ ," he said glancing towards his nephew "and bring her a practice helmet as well" It would protect her head but wouldn't cover her face "we can't have Stannis thinking she is a regular soldier if they get through to the castle".

"Follow me, My Lady" Said Bronn, giving her a warm smile.

Tyrion waited until they had left the wall and turned towards Joffrey "If she is killed because of your stupid games nothing will stop the northmen; not my father's army, not Stannis' army, not these walls and not even your precious Hound. They will kill you and I will let them."

"This changes nothing, i'm still declaring war on the Night's Watch and on her bastard brother, oh and uncle, don't think i've forgotten about her punishment. Ser Meryn and the Hound will see to it after the war," said Joffrey with a smile on his face before turning around and leaving.

"He will remember that, imp," said the Hound who was leaning on a wall behind him.

"I hope he does. Now, I have a job for you, I was going to tell you to lead an attack from the right side of the bay in case Stannis's troops tried to go around but that was before my nephew's little stupid trick. I need you to protect Lady Sansa, she is not safe here," he could see the Hound's face growing serious.

"You want me to babysit? Tell someone else to do it, imp" said the Hound, his eyes had grown darker and his body had stiffened.

"Who should I tell, Sandor? Ser Ilyn Payne? Ser Meryn? They will rape her the second the war starts and maybe even kill her after. She trusts you, for some reason and don't act like it's a punishment, I know you care for her" The Hound's hand was now holding tight to the grip of his sword. "Just keep her safe and I'll give you all the coins, whores and wine you want"

The Hound would probably kill him if the war didn't but he knew the dog would die first than let something happen to Sansa, he had seen the way he looked at her. Besides this would be a battle fought with fire and he wasn't sure how the Hound would react to that.

 _Now,_  he thought, _let's go die in this fucking war._


	6. Davos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry it took me too long to write this one, I had exams and went on a trip and I don’t want to say I forgot about it but yeah… I forgot about it… and when I did had the time to write it I had no idea where to begin. I know, excuses, excuses but oh well… here is a brand new chapter :)  
> REVIEWS pleeaseee tell me what you think! Anything, even if you don’t like it. Thank you! Again, this is based on G.M’s books not me blah blah blah contains some awesome wicked insanely good phrases he wrote because he is awesome and I am not and blah blah blah. Enjoy :)

 

* * *

 

**Davos**  

The sound of the warhorns followed their every move. He had told Stannis it would be unwise as the whole of kings landing would be able to hear them miles away. He had simply looked away and said, “I want them to know” with a grin on his face.

His sons’ ships _Wraith_ and _Lady Marya_ surrounded his ship, _The Black Beth_ a _._ They were the second in line just behind the ship of the Lord High Captain of Stannis’ fleet, Imry Florent. No more than twenty yards behind, the whole of Stannis’ fleet followed them.

“Bring down the sail”, Davos commanded. “Lower mast. Oarsmen to your oars!” He could hear his son Matthos echoing his commands through the ship. The rest of his brothers had been appointed captains of their own ships but Davos felt he was too young for this so he asked Stannis to assign him to the _Black Betha_ instead. Matthos had burst out in fury and hadn’t spoken a word to Davos since, but now, so close to battle he seemed to have forgiven him.

The deck of the _Black Betha_ crackled as the soldiers rushed to take their positions. _Too many goddamn soldiers,_ thought Davos as he tried to push his way around them.

The warhorns sounded again, this time mixed with the booming of the oarmaster’s drums. “Slowly…” Davos warned him. The soldiers had been eager to face the enemy, confident of their victory. But now, Davos could see fear and anxiety of what was to come, most of the soldiers were too young and had not tasted the horrors of battle yet.

Davos turned to see the soldiers on the other ships and had to take a step back; he had never seen so many ships gathered in a single place before. It was truly a magnificent display. The Lord High Captain had organized the fleet into ten lines of battle, each of twenty ships. The first two lines would sweep up the river and destroy the royal fleet or as Matthos liked to call them the “boy’s toys”. Those ships that followed would land companies of archers and spearmen beneath the city walls and the smaller, slower ships would standby at the sides of the bay in case the Lannisters had any hidden ships on the sides.

It was a good plan, a great plan even, but not for Blackwater bay. _We are fools to meet them on the Blackwater; we would have a greater chance at victory if the battle happened on the open sea._ But there was no time for regrets, they were here now and he had to try as hard as he could to win this battle, for his sons and for his king.

“Fast cruise!” Davos barked. The battle was near and he could feel it. The drums began to beat more quickly, the blades of the oars cutting the water and yet, something felt wrong. Davos prided himself on knowing the waterfront at King’s landing even better than the back of his hand, those towers of raw new stone that stood opposite one another might not mean anything to Ser Imry but to him it was as if two extra fingers had sprouted from his knuckles.

Davos had been deep in thought when he saw something flash near the ship, it was sunlight against steel, _A chain_ he thought _so this is why they built those towers,_ _but they haven’t closed the river against us. Why?_ But before he could even make a guess his son’s shout came from the other side of the ship.

“ENEMY SIGHTED!” yelled Matthos as he pointed towards the emerging ship. It took Davos by surprise, _one ship? Where are the rest?_

“Maybe they’ve surrendered” Said Matthos to his father as if he was reading his thoughts.

“I don’t think so, they knew we were coming, they have something planned” said Matthos, his eyes half closed as he tried to figure out the _little bastard’s_ plan.

“Exactly, father. The people of kings landing have heard of their king’s arrival, maybe they’ve rebelled against Joffrey!” said Matthos enthusiastically.

Davos looked at him. He would never admit it but Matthos was his favorite son, he was so much like his mother, so naïve and innocent. _War will take that away from him._ “The people don’t give a shit about Kings, boy. As long as they have summer and food they would even bow to the mad King”. The words had sounded harsher that he had meant to but Matthos needed to learn, after this battle he would be a boy no longer.

“Battle speed,” Davos shouted. They were almost in the river now and the royal fleet was becoming increasingly visible with every second that passed. _This was it._

“That’s the royal fleet?” asked Matthos in disbelief while pointing towards the “boy’s toys”.

Davos looked at the enemy ships again and realized that Stannis’ fleet outnumbered them greatly. But… _where is Lady Lyanna? And kingslander? Lady Shame, The mother, White tree?_ He could keep going but saw no point in it, more than half of the royal fleet was missing. _Where are they?_ Davos tasted a trap, yet he saw nothing to fully convince him of so.

As the second line passed through the new Twin towers Davos took a closer look. He could see a metal chain coming out of a whole no bigger that a man’s head and disappearing under water. Davos looked up, he expected to see some kind of trap falling from the sky, arrows, rocks even dragons, but nothing. All he could see was the red banners. _That damned fiery heart is everywhere, this shouldn’t be our sigil,_ he thought.

“Faster!” Davos shouted, he was eager to get this battle over with.

He never saw the two ships crash but he heard them. One of the missing ships of the royal fleet, _Madness_ had come out from the right side of the bay and crashed into the side of one of the ships in the second line. He had always thought _Madness_ was a stupid name for a ship but now he couldn’t think of a more appropriate name for it.

_The war’s first victims,_ he thought as he saw dead soldiers falling to the water. Just as fast as the first crash had happened a second ship came from the left side of the bay and crashed into the nearest ship.

_So this is what they mean to do? Crash their ships into us? No. They want us close together._ _We need to get to shore._

A new ship emerged out of the right side of the bay heading towards the Captain’s ship.

“TO WAR!” he heard the Lord High Captain shout from his ship in the first line, soldiers taking out canons and preparing arrows to shoot at the approaching ship meant to impact them. The Lord commander’s ship escaped the impact by an inch but _why aren’t they attacking the ship? Where are the canons? The arrows?_ Thought Davos, he was growing impatient. It took him a split second to realize that the deck of the ship was empty.

A loud metal sound came from behind them. Davos turned around to see as a big metal chain was raised over their heads, separating Stannis’ fleet into two. He could hear shouts from the soldiers in the ships outside the iron curtain. They had fallen into the trap. _This had been their plan all along._

“Father!” Matthos yelled.

Davos turned around to see as Geoffrey’s _White tree_ impacted the right side of the ship next to them. Half of the soldiers were now drowning in the water, weighed down by their own armour.

“Throw them some barrels” Davos yelled, _that should help most of them stay afloat._ A flash of green caught his eye; a green liquid was emerging from underneath the stern of _White tree_. His mind travelled back to when he was nothing more than a child; a maester had once told him a story about a dangerous liquid made and controlled by the alchemists’ guild.

“Alchemists use black magic and spells to make it,” he had told him. “Most maesters deny this but once you’ve seen the substance burn you’ll know, a thing like that can only be created by evil, dark powers”.

It took him an instant to realize it but it was already too late, Davos looked up to see the burning arrows and then down at his son.

“MATTHOS!”

His son’s body was thrown out of the ship as soon as the arrow had impacted _White tree_. A cloud of green fire almost as big as the iron chain emerged from the bottom of the royal ships burning everything it could find. Davos had also been thrown to the water, he couldn’t see where his son had landed or if he had survived, he couldn’t see anything that wasn’t burning. He got rid of his armor as quickly as he could before it sunk him. Most of the ships were afire and the rest would be burning soon. He could hear soldiers from behind the chain yelling at them, he couldn’t make out what they were saying. The chain was burning as well, it wouldn’t be long until it melted and the rest of the ships could join them at the bay. _The little boy has played his trick; he can only play it once._ Wildfire was as scarce as it was evil.

“MATTHOS!” he yelled, it was useless. He looked around him. Ships burning, men burning, even the water was burning. He could only pray to the Gods that he and his brothers had made it to the bay safely. _The Gods_ , he mocked, _The Gods stopped hearing our prayers a long time ago._

 

The mouth of Blackwater Bay had turned into the mouth of hell.

 


	7. Sandor

Sandor stood motionless as a gargoyle. His eyes locked on the burning river where half of Stannis's fleet was ablaze along with its crew. Wildfire had filled the air with green smoke, screams and the smell of burning human flesh. Somewhere in the background he heard Joffrey's voice crack as he yelled and pointed towards his precious  _Kingslander_ now burning against an enemy ship.

The chain had already melted away and the rest of the ships were already making their way to land. Even after the Imp's fire trick Stannis's army still outnumbered theirs.  _They will soon be at the mud gate,_  thought Sandor.

"Archers! To your marks!" the Imp yelled. Sandor could tell he was anxious; the chain melting so fast was not part of the plan. "Hold…"

"What are you doing? We need to attack!" yelled the King

"Hold" he repeated, the Imp was growing impatient of his nephew.

The little bird was standing behind him. He couldn't feel her fingers tight around his arm because of the armor but he knew they were there. She had grabbed him when the first green explosion appeared. He wanted to turn around, tell her everything was going to be fine, that he wouldn't let anything harm her but he couldn't promise her that. He didn't know if he could protect her anymore. All the fire had made him  _weak_.

"My lord" a runner cried "We've got enemy on the riverfront" _They are here_ , thought Sandor,  _just outside the gates._

"Tell Ser Arneld to swing the whores thirty degrees west." The angle would give them some advantage over the numerous army.

"Mother said I could have the Whores!" Joffrey said.

"Fine, the Whores are yours" Tyrion replied annoyed and Joffrey hurried off happy.

Sandor had been so focused on the burning happening outside the gates that he barely noticed Tyrion shouting commands at him and his men.

"Form up!" said Tyrion, "You're going out".

 _No._  Sandor had gone pale. He wanted to protect Sansa but he couldn't bring himself to face the fire. Tyrion must have seen the fear in his eyes because he added quickly "Dog, now that my nephew is gone I'll need you to take Lady Sansa back to the castle"

Sandor could feel the life coming back to him, he had only felt this afraid once and it was a long time ago when his brother had shoved his face to the fire.

"M'LORD!" a soldier shouted just before a sword opened him from shoulder to armpit. They had gotten inside.

"TAKE SANSA NOW!" Tyrion shouted at him as an arrow missed him by an inch.

Sandor lifted Sansa over his shoulder and started running towards the castle. She protested but Sandor wasn't even listening, his mind was focused on the men coming through the gate and over the walls.  _We won't make it to the holdfast._

Most of the battle was going on outside the gates but some soldiers had gotten inside and the golden cloaks couldn't hold the doors any longer. A soldier came at him but Sandor simply kicked him over one of the walls. His head exploded as soon as it hit the floor. He heard the little bird gasp.  _She'll hate me for it._

Sandor kicked a door open and ran as fast as he could, up and around until they reached the castle and were far enough from the battle and the walls. As soon as he put Sansa down she started throwing fists and yelling at him.

"Hey! HEY!" the Hound yelled trying to restrain her with his arms "There's no time for that"

"You killed that man! You threw him of a wall like he was nothing!"

"He  _was_  nothing, Sansa. It was him or you, so I made a choice. Next time I'll let them kill you, if it pleases my Lady"

"You're a monster," she said as she took off the helmet and threw it against him.

"Yeah, I know" He said, she was always going to think of him as a monster. "That maid the Imp has been fucking, do you know where she could be?"

"Shae? Why do you wh…"

"Just tell me," he rasped.

"You are scaring me"

Sandor hadn't realized how hard he had been grabbing her wrist and quickly let go. "Everything scares you, little bird," he mocked trying to calm her.

"She was with me before the King summoned me to the walls. We were supposed to stay with the Queen but I don't know where she is now. Why?"

"I don't know, some soldiers mentioned something about the Imp sneaking out of the castle to see some whore" He said as they walked towards the King's tower "They said he knew about some secret passage, I figured the maid would know about it too if she isn't gone already. We'll just have to use the King's"

"The King's? The King's what?" she said breathless, she had to run to keep up with Sandor's pace.

"The King's escape passage, it's in his chamber. If the city falls, the Kingsguard use those tunnels to take the King and the royal family out of the castle. It's all very heroic right? the King flees while the soldiers buy him time with their lives. I didn't want to use it in case Stannis knew about it but we don't have much of a choice really"

"But wait! I don't understand. Why do we need to find a way out?

"You are not planning on staying here are you?" he said, stopping abruptly.

"Lord Stannis wouldn't hurt me, he's not like Geoffrey" she replied.

"What do you know of Stannis? Still believing in those stupid stories little bird? Do you have any clue as to what happens when a city is raided?"

She shook her head and stared at the floor. He looked at her and leaned closer; he could almost smell the lemon in her hair, sweet and sour. "Look at me.  _Look_  at me". Sansa looked up, her eyes growing moist.

"If the city falls the soldiers will be the first ones to come through those doors, sweating and bleeding they'll fuck anything that walks. If they see you dressed as a soldier they'll kill you, if they see you dressed as a girl they'll rape you, either way you'll probably be dead come the morning" The words felt cruel, even to him, as he said them.

Sansa had gone pale. "If you were so lucky so as to survive the raids and the raping and the killings, what makes you think Stannis wouldn't kill you? Your brother's claim to the North makes him a traitor and so are you little bird." His voice was cold and hard as steel "So you can come with me and maybe make it to the North or stay here and hope for Prince Aemon the Dragonknight to come rescue you, I'm sure it won't be long."

Sansa didn't say anything she simply looked at him. Some instinct made Sandor lift his hand and cup his cheek with his fingers; he could feel the tears rushing through her face. He pulled her closer and she closed her eyes; for a moment he thought about kissing her. He wanted to taste her lips, ran his finger through her hair, kiss every inch of her but most of all make her leave with him.

"Still can't bare to look, can you?" he smiled awkwardly and leaned to kiss her forehead.

"I can't leave," she finally said. Her eyes met his and Sandor understood that nothing he said would make her change his mind, she still didn't trust him.

"If the city doesn't fall..." he said.

"It will, there are soldiers everywhere, Geoffrey has lost Kingslanding," said Sansa, convincingly.

"If the city doesnt fall," he repeated "Geoffrey will torture you, beat you, rape you, he hasn't forgotten, little bird, he will make you pay for calling him a bastard, as right as you might be," He didn't know what else to say, or even if he had the right to say anything. He was nothing to Sansa, and Sansa was nothing to him but then why did he feel this urge to protect her, to keep her from harm? He mocked her innocence and her knight stories but here he was asking her to come with him, promising to protect her like her knights would. He picked her helmet and handed it over to her.

"Be careful, little bird." He said as he took a step back to look at her, really look at her, for the last time. He smiled again and turned to make his way to the King's chamber.


End file.
